Did/Is the media cover 9/11 too much?
- Thread starter Flying Spaghetti Monster
- Start date
That's not really fair. Europe is rather peaceful at the moment and has been getting along much better than... well, ever. America, on the other hand, DOES currently have the government bad, education bad, America good attitude.
My point is that every country has good sides and bad sides. But it just seems like America is the only one that can get criticized here without people getting all butt hurt.
And, to get back a little to the media aspect of things, I can't believe that anyone would be complaining about US dominance of world entertainment media...on a STAR TREK message board.
Now that's just silly. America is, despite it's economy, the most influential country in the world right now. Trying to act like it's being persecuted doesn't fly.
Apples and oranges.
Not that big of a deal? What the hell is wrong with you?
Over 3,000 people died horribly inside of two hours. Entire families were vaporized when those planes hit the Towers and the Pentagon.
When was the last time something even remotely like that happened in Vienna?
Americans have a right, if not duty, to question whether their own coverage is exploitive. I've got no problem with that.
However, just as it would be wrong for Americans to complain about how media in other countries covers their own tragedies, it comes off as arrogant and callous for Europeans to sit in judgment on how Americans might commemorate something terrible that happened in the United States.
There is only one here behaving all butt-hurt, and I think it's not difficult to see who he is.
Thankfully, this attitude of "with us or against us", which was pretty common during the Bush years, has vastly receded in recent times. Unfortunately, some people are still very much stuck in it, and they meet every single instance of criticism with foaming rage.
Not sure about the volume of the coverage, but at the time, I did wonder about the nature of it. I don't know how this was handled by the US media but over here, people started to go on and on about how this event had changed the world even while it was still ongoing. I remember thinking at the time that this was a bit premature and might turn out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
As for the coverage of the anniversary, yes, there's a lot of it but the thing that bugs me about it is, again, not its volume but its quality. Ten years on, are we actually wiser? Do we get presented a nuanced analysis of what happened? Do we, as an audience, even want that? Or are we happy with handy, simple answers and explanations?
As for the coverage of the anniversary, yes, there's a lot of it but the thing that bugs me about it is, again, not its volume but its quality. Ten years on, are we actually wiser? Do we get presented a nuanced analysis of what happened? Do we, as an audience, even want that? Or are we happy with handy, simple answers and explanations?
Aww. That's cute.
Checkmate
Commodore
Except for those times it has.
Well, that's the thing. While it happened it was absolutely clear (at least here in NYC) that things had changed. That's not some hyperbolic statement, it's the simple truth.
Think about it, for the first time in history the entire world watched the mass murder of three thousand people. It wasn't some distant battle that one read about in the news paper. It was an event people watched. The (for lack of a better term) spectacle of it all was going to trigger an emotional response and an ideological shift that was going to have consequences. You only need to walk into an airport to see these changes.
Also, this isn't taking into account the two wars that resulted from this.
With all that being said, I have a hard time saying the media coverage was or is too much. Back when it happened, no one here gave a shit about anything else. Now that the 10th anniversary has approached, people want to remember it. If people don't want to watch they can always change the channel.
doubleohfive
Fleet Admiral
I definitely think this point is worth examining, in a more academic kind of discussion; certainly the images we see of the planes hitting the towers in New York bring a more immediate, visceral element to the events of that day, but it is well worth noting that the tragedy was not limited to New York City on September 11, 2001.
In all fairness to the media, I don't think they have been ignoring the Pentagon or PA. The few times I've turned on the news I've seen reports coming from all three locations (but yes, the larger emphasis has been on the WTC)
The day of the coverage wasn't overboard, even the week or so after the coverage wasn't too much. I mean, it was a pretty devestating event where 3,000 people were killed in a very senseless manner.
So there was a lot to deal with in that news cycle.
Today? I think the coverage is a bit much.
I mean it was "only" 10 years ago. The events of that day are still pretty fresh in my mind and vivid, as I'm sure it is for anyone around then.
I don't think it's something needs to be so covered and played on like this to this level. I don't want to or need to be reminded of all this. It's been way too much.
So there was a lot to deal with in that news cycle.
Today? I think the coverage is a bit much.
I mean it was "only" 10 years ago. The events of that day are still pretty fresh in my mind and vivid, as I'm sure it is for anyone around then.
I don't think it's something needs to be so covered and played on like this to this level. I don't want to or need to be reminded of all this. It's been way too much.
The day it happened, I would say that the coverage wasn't overboard. It was a huge event that many people had never seen the likes of in their lifetime and no one really knew what was going on.
In the following years, the coverage has definitely been overboard. As bad as it may sound, the coverage has been enough in recent years, and especially this year, that I almost just don't care anymore. I'm not saying we should forget about it- we definitely need to remember. But at the same time, eventually we need to dust ourselves off and move on. Sometimes it feels like we are stuck on it and can't move forward. This wasn't the first huge disaster to hit the US. It won't be the last huge disaster. We need to acknowledge it, remember it, and continue forward.
In the following years, the coverage has definitely been overboard. As bad as it may sound, the coverage has been enough in recent years, and especially this year, that I almost just don't care anymore. I'm not saying we should forget about it- we definitely need to remember. But at the same time, eventually we need to dust ourselves off and move on. Sometimes it feels like we are stuck on it and can't move forward. This wasn't the first huge disaster to hit the US. It won't be the last huge disaster. We need to acknowledge it, remember it, and continue forward.
And you know the minute something else major happens it will immediately be compared to 9/11.
But you do need some kind of yardstick for disasters, I remember everything being compared to Pearl Harbor up until 9/11.
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